What would you do differently?

WORKING SAFELY BY?STEVE?SAYER

(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)

If OSHA assigned an inspector to your establishment nearly every working day like FSIS does, what would you do differently with regards to industrial safety at your facility?

Would you be confident with your multiple industrial safety programs and recordkeeping? Would they be updated and current like your HACCP and SSOP’s?

Would randomly picked plant personnel have the acquired knowledge to answer correctly and confidently questions regarding your hazardous communication program or your personal protective equipment policies?

How about middle and upper management?

Would the employees who operate powered forklifts and powered hand-jacks have they safety certifications updated and current?

If a 3rd?party is contracted to perform maintenance services to the refrigeration system, could those technicians answer the inspector’s questions concerning your company’s emergency evacuation procedures, including lockout/tagout procedures?

Would you feel confident if the inspector toured your maintenance shops and chemical storage areas?

Would there be recorded safety meeting minutes and updated employee-training documents to show the OSHA inspector the continuous efforts your company performs in order to contain and eschew industrial injuries and illnesses at your facility?

These questions, among others, are what I pose when I visit new clients. There are a lot of USDA inspected establishments that have in place exceptional industrial safety programs and procedures and could easily answer yes to all of the above questions while burying me with documentation to verify and validate their hard work and never-ending efforts.

However, there still exist many companies that would suffer multiple regulatory citations and money fines if OSHA showed up unannounced at their establishment’s doorsill.

We must ask ourselves whether such plants lack OSHA knowledge and regulatory abidance because of complacency and/or poor leadership from the top.

I have seen situations where it has taken a serious injury or a death to make things change at such plants. That is heartbreaking. And it is avoidable.?

What can you do differently?

2/19/2016 Meatingplace.com

LAST WORD